David Lee Roth Impersonator Arrested on Sex Charges

A man known for pretending to be Van Halen singer David Lee Roth has been arrested on charges of having underage sex. David Kuntz-Angel faces 12 counts stretching back to 2006; he had been on the run for several months before being caught on Jan. 3 in British Columbia.

Kuntz-Angel has spent more than a decade trying to persuade people he was a rock star. In 2008, he identified himself as Roth after being stopped for speeding by Canadian police – while the real singer was performing in New York City. Various witnesses recalled a time when Kuntz-Angel used his passing physical similarity to Roth to receive free grooming treatments, among other things. In 1989, he was accused in a murder trial of trying to persuade one of his girlfriends to kill another one. His “mesmerizing” personality was said to have been behind his ability to convince people he was Roth.

The Agassiz-Harrison Observer reported this week that Kuntz-Angel was apprehended after a struggle in which he was pepper-sprayed to subdue him. Charges include having groomed a female victim, now 20 years old, over a 10-year period, touching a young person for sexual purpose, two counts of sexual assault and two counts of assault.

Crown counsel Sandra Di Curzio used the impersonation claims to argue against setting bail for Kuntz-Angel, telling Chilliwack Provincial Court, “If this is a person who goes by multiple names, how is he going to be monitored in the community? He goes by ‘David Lee Roth’.” She added that he’d used the name in at least two nearby stores, and a bail report had suggested he might be using as many as 19 identities. Judge Wendy Young denied bail, and Kurtz-Angel will be remanded in custody until his trial, which is set for May.